Shinondi And Another Man, Who Understood Japanese, Bowed,
And (As On Every Occasion) Translated What I Said Into Aino For The
Venerable Group Opposite.
Shinondi then said "that he and
Shinrichi, the other Japanese speaker, would tell me all they knew,
but they
Were but young men, and only knew what was told to them.
They would speak what they believed to be true, but the chief knew
more than they, and when he came back he might tell me differently,
and then I should think that they had spoken lies." I said that no
one who looked into their faces could think that they ever told
lies. They were very much pleased, and waved their hands and
stroked their beards repeatedly. Before they told me anything they
begged and prayed that I would not inform the Japanese Government
that they had told me of their customs, or harm might come to them!
For the next two hours, and for two more after supper, I asked them
questions concerning their religion and customs, and again
yesterday for a considerable time, and this morning, after Benri's
return, I went over the same subjects with him, and have also
employed a considerable time in getting about 300 words from them,
which I have spelt phonetically of course, and intend to go over
again when I visit the coast Ainos. {19}
The process was slow, as both question and answer had to pass
through three languages. There was a very manifest desire to tell
the truth, and I think that their statements concerning their few
and simple customs may be relied upon.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 303 of 417
Words from 83463 to 83731
of 115002
